


The Eyes of a Witch

by RoxyPop



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 23:08:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29957289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoxyPop/pseuds/RoxyPop
Summary: Eris is sensitive about her eyes. Stardust-13 tries to be considerate.
Relationships: Eris Morn/Original Character(s), Guardian/Eris Morn, eris morn - Relationship
Kudos: 8





	The Eyes of a Witch

Stardust remembers when she first asked about Eris's eyes. It's an embarrassing memory. She had only just regained her voice, and in hindsight it makes her feel foolish to have wasted some of her first words on such an insensitive question, even if it was an accident.

"So what do your eyes look like? Behind the hood, I mean," She asked one night, sitting at Sanctuary on the moon. Stardust-13 had just finished clearing out the Pit of Heresy for the first time. They were both tired, and Stardust hadn't been thinking before she spoke, but the instant she saw Eris's face she knew it had been a misstep. The creases on the corners of Eris's mouth deepened, her lips thinning into tense little lines. Stardust felt the shame rising up in her mechanical throat. Her Exo face wasn't particularly expressive, but the embarrassment was palpable on it.

Eris looked away, the three glowing, green eyes looking back towards Earth. "They are the eyes of a witch. You know this," she said tersely.

Stardust-13 opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by her ghost, Nebula.

"I think what she _meant_ to ask was how you transplanted the eyes. You know how she _fancies_ hive magic."  
  
Stardust's shoulders, which had been hiked up past her neck, relaxed. Eris gave a small smile, and a bitter chuckle. "Ah, yes. Unfortunately, It was not hive magic that gave me back my sight, so I doubt you would be particularly interested."  
  
"Right," Stardust sighed, shooting Nebula a thankful look. The moment passed soon after, and Stardust was glad that nothing more came of it.

Stardust remembers the first time she kissed Eris, too.

It was a moment of fear, initially. Nebula had been possessed, the darkness speaking through her. "Ancient Power awaits on Europa," they said. It haunted Stardust and Nebula both. When they returned, Eris was terrified. She leapt at the Guardian, pulling her close, close enough to feel the warmth of Eris's body through simulated neurons.  
  
"Guardian! I thought you had..."

She didn't have to finish. It wasn't hard to imagine what Eris had expected when the coms went dark.

Stardust had frozen at first. It had been so long since she'd touched anyone else. Well, anyone she wasn't actively killing. Her hands were not instruments for gentle touching, for caressing, for tenderness--they were instruments of death. They were hands that had laid waste to empires and gods alike, hands that wielded weapons beyond imagination, hands that shaped the light into its fundamental components with incredibly destructive results. She could spread wings of holy flame, create tiny blackholes, fire beams of pure electric energy. How was she to use them to hold someone as important to her as Eris?

Nebula was the one who got her to actually move. She flew under Stardust's arms and lifted them up to hold onto Eris. Stardust took the hint and wrapped her arms around her, burying her metal face into the warm crook of Eris's neck. Stardust pulled back, placing one hand on Eris's cheek, feeling the dark tears that ran in rivulets down her skin.  
  
"Can I kiss you?" Stardust asked. Eris chuckled, and then laughed. It was a magical sound, and Nebula began to join in, giggling and resting her forehead on Eris's. They laughed for ages, reveling in the harrowing, near-death experience. It's there beneath the Tree of Silver Wings on Io that their lips met, metal meeting soft skin. Stardust's synthetic tongue teases forward, and her hand comes up, trying to pull back Eris's hood.  
  
Eris immediately broke away, pulling back. The laughs are gone, replaced by silence.

It was a few days before they spoke again, and been even longer before their second kiss.

This time, it was on Europa. Stardust was fresh from the Deep Stone Crypt, with a host of new weapons and Taniks' literal head in tow. She'd transmatted back to the base camp on Europa, greeting Elsie, the drifter, and... Eris.

Elsie gave her congratulations, and went on about how there was still yet work to do in the crypt, and something about a giant head in a basement somewhere. Stardust mostly tuned her out--she fully intended to help, but only after she'd had the chance to try out some of her new toys in the crucible.

The Drifter held his arms out and kissed her ass far more than necessary, as he often did after Stardust had just finished demonstrating her god-slaying prowess, and finished by pulling her into a far-too-intimate hug. As he wandered back towards the fire, complaining under his breath about the cold, Stardust's attention moved to Eris.

She stepped closer, the snow of Europa dusting her suit. Several of its pieces had been acquired with Eris's help, most notably the pink and blue Daito coat with its distinct flared collar and broad shoulder pads.

Eris spoke first. "Congratulations," she said. "Europa still has many secrets to uncover, warlock. But after dealing Taniks yet another defeat and securing the crypt... I think it's safe to say you've earned your rest." She smiled again, such a rare sight, and Stardust felt her mechanical insides churning. Elsie seemed to notice and acted quick.

"Drifter," she said. "Why don't you help me carry this head inside?"

"Oh, lift it your da-," Drifter looked up from the radio that he'd started to fiddle with, glancing between Elsie and the two lovebirds, and quickly shut up. "I mean, uh, yeah. Let's haul it in with the other trophies." The two quickly got to work, lifting the massive metal skull off of the back of Stardust's sparrow and carrying it inside.  
  
"I think I'll join as well," Nebula piped up, transmatting out of Stardust's backpack and following them into the shelter.

Stardust looked at Eris again, her heart pounding in her ears. Even though she knew all of these physical sensations were simulated, it didn't make them feel less real. Her head was spinning as she stepped closer, the hunter perched up on a crate as the warlock leaned in.

The second kiss was far better than the first. It was tender, soft, an intimate exchange shared beneath the Europan snow.

"Would you... Like to come back to the city with me?" Stardust said, her voice quiet.

Eris made a show of considering for a moment. "To the tower?"

"N- No. I thought maybe we could visit my apartment," she said. "That way we can have some... Privacy."

"Privacy," she repeated, a smirk on her lips. It was easy to forget that Eris was once a hunter, until that scheming, almost mischievous grin came out.

"Yes. Privacy!"

Eris kissed Stardust again, soft lips pressing against the smooth metal curve of her cheek. "Yes, I think I will accompany you back to the city."

And now, Stardust is here in her home, with Eris sitting beside her. Stardust had removed her armor and pressure suit almost immediately, now clad in a loose tanktop and comfortable yoga pants, but Eris is still in her stiff leather armor.

Stardust is reminded of when she tried to remove Eris's hood herself, and decides not to press the issue, until-

"I've been unkind to you, Guardian" she whispers.

Stardust is boggled by the statement at first. She opens her mouth to speak, but Eris stops her again.

"I have kept myself hidden from you, even as you have bared yourself to me. The Darkness has left its mark on both of us, but I fear my scars are far more grotesque than your own." Eris isn't looking at her, the green glow of her stolen eyes fixed on a wall opposite her.

Stardust shakes her head. "No, Eris." She moves closer, taking Eris's chin in her hands. Artificial eyes stare into stolen eyes, and for a moment, they don't need words.

An exo hand raises and brushes against Eris's cheek. Slender fingers touch at the ragged edge of the veil that conceals Eris's face, and she stops breathing for a moment. Stardust freezes, her hand ready to pull back, but Eris reaches up and places her own hand over Stardust's. "You should be warned, Stardust," she says. "I am not a pleasant sight. My days of beauty are far behind me."

Stardust's hands cup Eris's cheeks, and she leans in close again. She doesn't say a word, and simply pressed their lips together as she pushes her hood back and away from her face. The veil rises, revealing Eris's eyes.

Eris's entire face from the bridge of her nose upwards is covered in hive carapace, almost like a masquerade mask, with three glowing green eyes set into wide, skull-like eye sockets. Black tears drip from each one, running down her cheeks. There's faint scaring where soft human flesh meets unyielding chitin, the two disparate tissues grafted together by Ahamkara magic. Eris's hairline is partially obscured by the top edges of the chitin plate, growing out into stunted horn-like growths, remnants of the crown-like horns on a witch's skull.

Eris looks apprehensive, like she's expecting her warlock lover to suddenly become disgusted by her.

"You're beautiful, Eris," Stardust coos, her metallic faceplates shifting into a smile. She brushes the backs of her fingers over Eris's soft skin, up from the curve of her jaw to the softness of her cheeks and then the warm, tough chitin.

She looks shocked for a moment, before her features settle into a warm smile.

This time, when they kiss, they don't let each other go for a long time.


End file.
